African Violet Terrarium

Last year I started a couple of terrariums with varying success. My succulent terrarium was so starved for light in our east facing apartment that it had to be banished to the balcony were it eeks out a living on only 3 hours of light a day. On the other hand, my African violet terrarium is doing very well and setting records, being the only plant in this appartment to flower twice! OK, if I am honest, it is the only plant that has bloomed at all since entering through the "plant threshold of death"*.

For those of you interested in do-it-yourself info, I planted the African violet inside of an 8"height x 6.5"diameter lidded glass bowl. I layered from bottom up, fish tank pebbles, charcoal, African violet soil, pebbles again, and a few decorative sea shells. The sea shells don't seem to make a difference to the violet, but they make me happy.

The African violet is well known for its dislike of having moisture on its leaves. So the idea of putting one inside of a damp terrarium seemed counter intuitive, however I have found that if I water it with a spray bottle on the stream setting, and point the water towards the edge of the bowl it drains down to the roots and doesn't effect the leaves. When I notice it looks too damp inside, I just open the lid for a few hours. It requires very little maintenance. However, at one point I was afraid it was getting too big for the bowl. I had to keep the lid open for a few weeks, and when I noticed that some of the older leaves were dying back, I cut them out and that allowed the plant to settle back into the bowl nicely. I have trimmed the leaves twice in the past year.

Overall, I am very pleased with this little terrarium experiment.

*Thanks to my landscape architect friend Ainsley for that vivid yet less than inviting description of our home.

Welcome Artichoke Season

One evening recently, I welcomed spring and celebrated artichoke season. I did so by making a meal of grilled California grown artichokes with creamy garlic butter dipping sauce, Italian sausage, baked creamy white wine potatoes and fresh vine ripened sliced tomato. As my Grandma Bette used to say, it was delicious, if I may say so myself! Now I just need to work on my food photography skills, as I don't think the photo really does it justice. On a side note, the dipping sauce was in one of my new ceramic pinch pots. Here's to eating in season, Cheers!

A Little Bit of Everything

Welcome to my 1st attempt at a blog. I have a website with my fine art and photography portfolios, http://www.360spoons.com/, if you have not yet seen it, please check it out. I also have an Etsy store, http://www.360spoons.etsy.com/ where you can purchase a selection of my photographs as handmade note cards.

This blog is for a little bit of everything else that doesn't fit into those other venues. It is a place for projects that are not either commercial or portfolio ready. This is the place for half baked ideas, inspirations, causes dear to me, as well as any anything else that comes to mind but has no where else to go!

The name 360spoons has always been about the full spectrum of what I do as a creative person. As an artist, I do not fit easily into a single category. In art school, I was into painting, sculpture, installation art and lighting design. Professionally I have found my niche in photography. Personally, I love ceramics, garden design and culinary arts.

I believe that a truly creative person needs to have many outlets for expression. I do not see a division between function and art. I find the process of making just as important as the concept. And I also think that sometimes dinner can be a masterpiece. These are some of the themes that will underlay the upcoming posts on my blog.